6 WASS students knocked down by cars in 2018 – Head teacher reveals

The West Africa Senior High School at Adenta has seen six of its students hit by vehicles on the Madina-Adenta highway in 2018 alone.

The latest of these road accidents involved a female student at the school on Thursday, leading to a massive protest.

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The headmaster of the West African Senior High School, Ofori Antwi revealed on Eyewitness News that “within the past month, we have had about five or six knockdowns but they have all been just minor ones.”

The most recent accident saw the student hit by a car on the highway on Thursday afternoon when she was trying to cross the highway.

This student is feared dead though there has been no official confirmation.

Over 190 people have reportedly been knocked down on the stretch in 2018 alone.

Residents have intensified protests over the lack of footbridges on the road following multiple deaths in the past week.

Mr. Antwi lamented that the school has had to contend with this risk for years.

He said their plight was “very very dangerous but we are just managing with the situation.”

“This has been there for years and the authorities are very much aware of it so we are hoping that one of these days, they will come to our aid and fix the problem for us.

The death of the WASS student triggered fresh outrage as angry residents blocked the road and burned tyres.

This caught the attention of the government which announced that work is to commence work on the uncompleted footbridges on the Madina-Adenta highway from next week following the death and subsequent protests on Thursday.

“Work is to be done on an accelerated basis with multiple contractors to ensure quick completion,” a statement from the inter-ministerial Committee on Roads and Highways, Transport and Interior stated.

It was initially thought the contractor on the road would return to work after three months as the MP for Madina, Alhaji Boniface Saddiq Abubakar, had said the Ministry of Roads and Highways was in talks with the contractor of the Madina-Adenta highway to return to the site and complete construction of the footbridges.

According to him, the contractor will return to the site following the payment of arrears owed him.

“I was with the Minister for Roads and Highways who gave me the assurance that between three to four months, contractors will be on site. So I’m taking that assurance because what is left is the ladder that one will climb. This is because the major work has been done.”